· His Royal Highness takes tour of our Granville Ecopark site after it became the first company to inject renewable biomethane into the local gas network in NI

· Bio Capital secures planning permission from Mid Ulster District Council to build a CO₂ recovery unit the site

· CO₂ recovery unit improves a completely circular process at Granville site

· The unit will reduce carbon emissions from the site by up to 9,000T per annum.

14th September 2024 – Dungannon, Northern Ireland: Bio Capital Group, the UK’s leading commercial energy from food waste producer, was delighted to welcome His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester for a tour of its Granville Ecopark (GECO) site in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The royal visit comes as Granville Ecopark secures planning permission from Mid Ulster District Council to build a CO₂ recovery unit on site.

The Bio Capital team gave His Royal Highness a tour of the site which is the largest facility of its kind in Northern Ireland, producing biomethane by recycling biodegradable food waste from local Councils, the hospitality sector and food and drink processors.

During the tour The Duke inspected Northern Ireland’s first renewable biomethane gas to grid connection, which has the capability to export enough gas to decarbonise Dungannon’s entire annual gas consumption. Granville also has the capacity to produce 115,000 tonnes of biofertiliser for use on agricultural land.

His Royal Highness was shown the fuel station used to power Bio Capital’s vehicles with the biomethane created from the food waste and the CO₂ unit (under construction) creating a circular economy that additionally reduces costs and helps customers achieve their sustainability targets.

CO₂ Recovery Unit Construction

After receiving planning permission from Mid Ulster District Council, work at the site commenced in August in preparation for delivery of the equipment later in autumn, with completion scheduled Q4 2024.

CO₂ recovery helps capture and reuse emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The new CO₂ unit will reduce the carbon emissions from the site by up to 9000T per annum creating a fully circular process.

The renewable CO₂ captured at GECO can be used for a broad range of industrial applications (industrial/technical CO₂) like greenhouses (for plant growth) and dry ice production or as an ingredient for the food and beverage industry (food-grade CO₂). Amidst a shortage of CO₂ supply globally, the new unit will create additional revenue streams for the company.

This will be the first of several renewable energy projects being undertaken in partnership with Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) across Bio-Capital’s portfolio, with other projects in England scheduled to be completed over the next 12 months.

Bio Capital’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tom Hall said: “The Bio-Capital team were delighted to welcome His Royal Highness to Granville to view Northern Ireland’s most advanced AD site and see, first-hand, the circular economic model of AD in action.”

Mr Hall added: “We are looking forward to achieving another first, through working with both global and local suppliers of equipment, enabling us to further contribute to the net-zero goal and complete the circular model at our plant at Granville. Anaerobic Digestion is a process that has been constantly evolving over the past century, and capturing and utilising the valuable CO₂ byproduct is just the latest advancement to improve the circularity of the process.”

Biomethane has a vital role to play in the UK’s future energy mix. It is a 100% renewable, low carbon alternative to natural gas or LNG that is bolstering the UK’s energy needs as global energy costs rise and temperatures drop. Biomethane releases some CO₂ when burned, but much less than fossil fuels. It’s considered carbon-neutral because it captures methane that would have otherwise escaped from decomposing food waste in landfills and repurposes it as energy.

As global energy costs continue to rise and unpredictable weather increases – resulting in extreme hot or cold spells – the case for increasing the UK’s biogas capability has never been stronger.